Friday, December 24, 2010

Lazy Bake Cookies

This is my first* Cooking Challenge post. What could be easier and more approachable to the masses than a Christmas Cookie challenge? What kind of degenerate doesn't make some Christmas cookies or candy during the holidays? I'm mean, seriously, it's un-American to not have a specialty that has your friends, neighbors, hair dresser, etc. salivating at the flip of the calendar to December. So call me un-American, I guess. I've never found my Holiday baking rhythm. (Ok, well, not never. I make a mean Easter bread. But I'm not thinking that's relevant here. I'm using Holiday as a euphemism, you know.)

To initiative the oven, The Girl baked a cake. I wish you could have seen our family of five sitting around the kitchen table for the first round of Lazy-Baking. Each of us had a (large) plate with a nearly microscopic morsel of lovingly created chocolate cake + icing, straight from the powder mixes. Yum!

So, as I've been contemplating my Cooking Challenge entry due to the promise of PRIZES, I've had the BEST intentions to do it up. But as Dec. 23rd arrived and I'd yet to find the time for this task, I'm thinking my chances of winning have faded with the month. Enter The Girl. When she asked to Pretty Please bake Santa's cookies in HER oven, I had a stroke of GENIUS! Technically, I actually had no part in the process. Please refrain from calling Child Labor watchdogs on me. But darn it, I want to WIN!

So, with the acumen of a seasoned baker, The Girl poured the powder into the mixing bowl. I'm told. You'll have to use your imagination, since I forgot to photograph that. (Disclosure: I wasn't even in the room.) Here, though, is my re-creation of the ingredients: LazyBake cookie pack and 2/3 teaspoon water.

It's actually quite shocking that we got this far into the post without bits of The Girl poking in. She's such a camera hog, normally no one can have a camera out without her flashing a grin / hamming it up / flipping her hair. I digress...

(The above photo proves I had no actual responsibility in the cooking process. See, The Dad is the actual "Fun with the Kids" parent. I merely observe, if you can call it that, from the other room. Everyone knows this.)

The directions say the LazyBake packet makes 4 cookies. Ya, right. This is the "pre-oven" pic, with two small-to-medium cookies. Because The Girl's flour-covered hands are hidden behind her back, you can't tell how hard she worked to get to this point. I know because The Dad told me.

So now is when the real work is displayed:

Put powdered cookie mix + water on Lazy Bake pan into the oven.

Heat with 100 watt light bulb for 10 min. Repeat.

Removing the pan is a careful process. The top of the Lazy Bake oven says in no uncertain terms to not touch the top: It is HOT. So, there is no relying on the machine for leverage in the extraction process. It really takes skills. I promise.

The Girl managed it with aplomb!

I'd like to clarify in fear that some of you might have a hard time following the complex process.
Let's recap.Step One: Open package & pour in a bowl,
Step Two: Mix in the not-quite-a teaspoon of water.
Step Three: Roll into ball with floured hands,
Step Four: Place lovingly in LazyBake pans.
Step Five: Heat under lightbulb for 10 minutes.
Step Six: Decorate!

Step Six started with The Girl and her Older Brother each schmearing a respectable layer of vanilla icing on the sugar cookie. The use of a butter knife was cause for excitement!

Step Six is done with verve at our house. If you look closely, you will notice the the cookie pan is veritably overwhelmed with clear sprinkles. Swimming in sprinkles. Drowning in sprinkles.
The Girl would have no less.

The Girl oh-so-graciously allowed her Older Brother to decorate one of the cookies. Such generosity is laudable when there are only two cookies to work with. I mean, what if a mistake is made? Therefore the only option here is success. And B O Y did they succeed. Have you ever seen such beautiful sugar cookies?

If only you could more easily see the plethora of white sprinkles on The Girl's cookie on the right. Older Brother's cookie - on the left- displays much more restraint . We would expect no less from him.
Christmas cookies as a microcosm of real life.

So that is all. I wish I could tell you how they taste, but since they were left for Santa no one in our house knows how they taste. Santa mentioned (He came a day early at our house. I'll explain later) that they were moist and almost spongy but retained their cookie texture. The amount of sprinkles made for a surprising CRUNCH when taking a bite. That's what Santa told me. When he was at our house. I know you wanted to know. Please message me if you'd like to know how to apply for him to come a day early at your house too. It's fairly easy, but you need to apply early to be part of the trial run on the 23rd.

Chewy, crunchy and festive. I think it's a winner!

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good "I HOPE I WIN!"

*Although I made a lasagna for November's Challenge and took copious amount of pictures of the process, I've never actually participated. Since a post with said photos was never developed, I've officially never taken up the mantle of the Challenge.

6 comments:

Love this! I can almost smell the warm cake from my own Lazy-Bake oven from when I was a girl! I remember the skill it took to take that pan out of the oven and not to drop it! Can you please write about more adventures of the Girl and her Older Brother?! I am captivated!

Obviously, you're up for the "Randomly Selected" prize and the voters will decide "Best in Show"... But with your ingenious use of child labor you may well steal the mantel of "Laziest Cook" from Nikki. Thanks for a great post!

Okay. Now I've got to defend my turf. And also? I believe MAGGIE should be the recipient of any award that comes your way. :) (But maybe that's my easy-bake oven envy speaking.. I ALWAYS wanted one of those damned things, and my mom wouldn't get me one. Sigh.)